Home
by quiple
Summary: Elle's never really understood what the phrase "home is where the heart is" means.


**A?N: Hey everyone! I know, it's been a while. Blame school. Anyways, I'm sorry if this is a little jumbled and incoherent because I kinda wrote this at 3 in the morning and edited it to the best of my ability. There will probably be a couple of mistakes tense-wise because I edited it myself. Oh well. Anyways, I'm trying to write chpt. 2 for unrequited but it might take a while cause I have trials. Again. Enjoy the one-shot**

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Elle's never really understood the phrase "home is where the heart is".

She's never understood this phrase because there was seriously nothing in this world that she held dear to herself, except for her ability. She's never really had a place or a person to call home. She's used to feeling lonely, used to feeling like there was no-one in the world who actually cared about her for who she was. But then again, she believed that she would never meet anyone more jaded and flawed than her, so she accepted that this was how she was going to feel for the rest of her life. People never saw her as a human being, just something that people used because of her ability to reduce a perfectly functional human being to a charred skeleton in a few seconds. So needless to say, she wasn't at all expecting the kindness and concern that the Bennett family showed her after Sylar murdered her father. After all, she did threaten to kill almost every member of the family at some point. They took her in even though she resisted, claiming that it didn't really affect her at all (even though she was tearing herself up inside). Noah's bullshit detector had pinged loudly and he all but dragged her and her few belongings to his house. Yeah sure she opposed at first by going out to drown her feelings in alcohol and nicotine every night and come back every morning at four, but she eventually started warming up to the Bennett family after deciding that they weren't exactly the perfect, sickeningly sweet family that she once though they were.

She isn't used to having someone to come home to. Usually after an assignment, she would just drive back to the Company and lock herself in her room (conveniently disguised as a cell) and cook something simple to eat before tucking into the corner of the couch with a good book. But now, it's different. Its two thirty in the morning, and her and Noah had just come back from another bag-and-tag mission. Noah yawned and mumbled "goodnight" before trudging to the kitchen to decimate the food. Elle turns left and tiptoes up the stairs, cursing when one creaks in protest. She pads down the hallway to the bathroom to take a long awaited shower. She let her tense muscles relax and her mind to calm under the warm spray of the water and now that her adrenaline rush is over, exhaustion began to take over. Stifling a yawn, she dried herself off, changed into a long shirt and short shorts and finally headed to her room.

She pushed open the door to her room and smiled when she saw the person curled up in her bed sheets. She spies a pair of pants thrown carelessly over her chair and when she looks at Claire again, she notices that she's wearing the oversized shirt that Elle usually wears to sleep. It's been four months since they admitted their feelings for each other and two weeks since Noah finally realised that there was absolutely no point whatsoever in forcing them to sleep in their own rooms because they always ended up sleeping in the same bed anyways. She stands at the edge of the bed and smiles, looking down at Claire are sleeping form. She ponders for a moment whether she should climb into Claire's bed to avoid waking her up but Claire looks so warm and soft that she dismisses the thought and slides under the sheets next to Claire. She stirs and rolls over to face her.

"Elle?" she mumbles, blue eyes slowly fluttering open.

"Yeah it's me, I'm ok" she whispers back, knowing that Claire would've have worried herself sick a couple of hours ago.

"Good, I missed you" she mumbles before pressing herself against Elle's front and nestles her head against her shoulder.

"So that's why you're wearing my shirt?" Elle asks sceptically, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend.

Claire gave a non-committal shrug and replied groggily "it smells like you".

Elle made an amused noise at the back of her throat and Claire wrinkles her nose."You've been smoking again" she accuses sleepily.

Elle sighs, knowing she's been caught. "It was only one though".

"Yeah but still. You said you quit" Claire whined, lifting her head to look at her and pouting.

"I know I know I know. It won't happen again ok?" Elle says quickly, looking away to try and stop the guilt that she feels because she knows she's broken her promise to Claire.

Claire grumbles again. "I'm trying to save your lungs. I love you, you know?"

Elle stiffens at that declaration. Claire's already told her that she loved her and every time she never said it back. Claire knows that she's not going to say it back for a while because of her issues, but it breaks her heart to see the brief flash of hurt in her eyes when she doesn't answer back. Half of her wants to answer back and make Claire happy, but the other half is hell bent on self preservation. She can't bring herself to say it and admit that she has a weakness.

"I know, and I'll keep my promise this time" Elle says, deliberately avoiding the last part of the declaration.

Claire sighs and nods softly before resting her head back onto her shoulder. Elle absent mindedly strokes the other girl's hair, dragging her fingers through the golden waves gently. She's hyper aware of every part of their body that's touching. Warmth is surrounding her and she realises that she's never felt more safe and at peace in her life. An overwhelming urge to repeat the phrase takes over her and she opens her mouth slightly to say it, but her brain wars with her heart, telling her to stop and starting to build those emotional barriers again. She remembers the brief flash of hurt in Claire's eyes and decides that she never wants to see it again. The walls crumble into dust the second they are built because seriously, making Claire happy has just overtaken the need to protect herself on her list of priorities by a million miles.

"Claire?" Elle whispers into the top of her head.

"Yeah?" she mumbles, shifting to try and get more comfortable.

"I love you" Elle whispers for the first time. Claire freezes for a second before leaning up and looking at her directly in the eye, searching for something. Elle looks back trying to convey all the love and affection that she felt for her in her gaze. Claire kisses her sweetly before replying "I love you too" before smiling slightly and kissing her again.

And in that moment, Elle discovers where her home is.

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**A/N: Reviews make my day :D**


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